Secrets of The Hidden City
by Forever-Fangirl-PJO-HP
Summary: The dynamic duo returns for another case! Detectives Annabeth and Percy have another mystery, one that will take them beyond the sparkling lights of New York City to the dark of suspicious neighborhoods. Watch them unveil secrets of the hidden part of NYC! Love, mysteries, murder and of course Percabeth! Will the young lovers cope? SEQUEL TO LOVE IN MIDST OF MURDER! Please review!
1. A New Case

**A/N: Hey Guys! I'm here! **

**WITH THE SEQUEL TO LOVE IN MIDST OF MURDER!**

**Yay! It's finally here! I know, I know,I took forever, so sorry! But school's out so hopefully I can update more! :) **

**Also, for those who haven't read the first one, you can check it out on my profile :) but know that you dont really have to read that to understand this. It's a completly new case!**

**Anyway without further ado:**

_Previously:_

_"Hey Malcolm," Annabeth called. He turned to us._

_"Hey guys," he greeted._

_"What's up?" Annabeth asked as he turned back to his phone. Malcolm looked up,_

_"I think we might have another case on our hands."_

Annabeth's POV:

We looked at him expectantly and he grinned.

"So I'm guessing you want it." I smacked him,

"Just tell us already!" He motioned us to the car and explained on the way.

"There has just been a break in at the bookstore on fifth street, Haster's Corner."

"Okay, and..."Percy prodded further. I was curious too, Malcolm would not just bring us in on a case like this unless there was something more to it.

"Well, something seems...off. I don't know how to place it, but why would a bookstore be ransacked and a person be put in a coma because of it. There has to be something there that means something more," Malcolm explained.

"Wait, a person is in a coma?" I asked surprised. He nodded,

"Yeah, she was hurt while she was entering the store, she worked there."

I thought over this, and glancing at Percy I could tell that he was also mulling over the information.

"The 911 call was made by another worker who showed up minutes later to find the store broken into and messed up. He found her lying on the ground by the cash register. She was conscious when he got there but by the time ambulance arrived she had passed out." Malcolm continued the description of the case.

By that time we had arrived at the bookstore. It was pretty normal, nothing too fancy but not too shabby either. At the moment though, it was a mess, books thrown off shelves and a window was broken. There were already cops at the scene and as we stepped past the crime scene tape I saw a man being questioned. He had midnight black hair, dark eyes and pale skin. He was wearing a nametag that said Nico. We walked over to him.

"Hi, Detective Annabeth Chase," I shook his hand. Percy introduced himself as well.

"Nico," he replied. He had a calm demeanor on the outside but his eyes told a different story they were troubled and filled with worry.

"So you are the one that found the place like this?" Percy asked, trying to get the story.

"Yes. When I got here the place was like this. I didn't move anything or touch anything so it's pretty much undisturbed. I heard someone crying out so I went and saw her lying there by the counter, she was bleeding, barely conscious," he stopped for a second and in that moment his face showed his true emotions, that of worry and pain.

"Anyway I called the police and stuff and stayed by her side trying to keep her conscious but," he broke off again, "it didn't work." He composed himself again. I looked at Percy, this had impacted Nico a lot more than he cared to show. Percy returned the quick glance.

"Where you close to her?" I asked kindly. His gaze hardened for a bit before he responded, "I worked with her." He left it at that.

"Thank you. Now we just have a few generic questions. Who owns this place?" Percy asked.

Nico shrugged, "I don't know." I was surprised. Percy also looked surprised, his eyebrows rose and he looked so cute. Focus, I told myself.

Nico noticing our looks of surprise said, "I don't know, I was employed by a manager but he doesn't own the place. He just takes orders from the boss."

"Who is the manager?" I asked.

"His name is Caleb Bruce, he isn't here at the moment. On a one week vacation or something," Nico explained further.

"Okay. Do you see anything missing?" I asked, scanning the messed up store.

"I don't think so, but there are a lot of books in here so I wouldn't know for sure. The money and everything else is still here though..." Nico said trailing off thoughtfully. We nodded at him and moved to inspect the scene.

"There was no money taken, this was not a robbery. Someone was looking for something." I told Percy when we were out of earshot.

"The question is what. And didn't it seem to you that Nico was hiding something. He was really shaken up, despite how he wanted to cover it up. He might know more than he's letting on..." Percy trailed off in thought. He was right though there was something weird. I put the thought aside and turned my attention to the scene. I walked around carefully, trying not to mess things up.

"What's behind here?" I asked Nico as we approached a door in the back corner.

"Staff area, we can put our stuff there, small break room type thing," Nico stepped around and pushed open the door for me to walk through. I entered a small room that held a counter on one side with a sink and cabinets. There was a couch facing a TV. It might have been small but it was something, most stores this size didn't have things like this. We heard a yell from across the store, I rushed out immediately thinking Percy was in trouble.

"Ow!" Percy yelled and swore a bit. I rushed to him,

"Percy! Are you okay?" I yelled. He moved to where I could see him, he had blood on his hand.

"I'm fine, I just cut myself on glass," he said as I rushed to inspect his hand. I got out a wipe from my bag and wiped off the blood and put a band-aid on the cut.

"Quit hurting yourself you stupid Seaweed Brain!" I frowned at him when I was done. He just had to scare me like that. He gave me a sideways grin and I couldn't stop my heart from lurching. He still did that to me.

"Sorry Wise Girl," he pecked my forehead and I smiled at the touch. Then led him away from the window and towards the back.

"Did you get anything from the window?" I asked.

"Other than a cut, no. It was broken down by a baseball bat or a club of some sort, if that helps," He added.

I nodded and showed him the back room which I had been looking at earlier.

"You think there is something off about this?" he asked, his eyes scanning the room.

I shrugged, "I don't know I feel like there is something off about the whole thing..." I didn't understand the feeling.

Percy frowned, "I agree, there is something out of place here." He walked to the counter and pressed his hands against it, then started checking the cabinets. I sat on the couch, glanced at the TV, and just thought for a moment.

"Do you think that..." Perct started cutting into the silence.

"What?" I asked.

"Does this room seem wayward to you?" he asked instead.

My eyes widened as I caught his drift. "Maybe!" I breathed excitedly. I took off one on my earrings, they were smooth round balls with a design inside. I gave it to Percy and he set it on the floor. It started rolling towards the right wall and we followed it to the corner of the room, where it hit the wall and stopped.

I looked at Percy and motioned for him to take one side, and then we started the tapping. We were knocking around to see if we got a hollow sound. We froze when Percy hit the sweet spot. I ran my hand along the wall and followed it to the counter. I struggled to find a crevice. My nail caught one just under the counter. I pulled at it and the small lever clicked.

Part of the wall started to shift and revealing a secret hidden door.

Percy turned to me with a grin, "Jackpot!"

**A/N: So what did you think? Good, bad? Thoughts? Please review! **

**Also thanks to MischievousChaos for help on the title along with my friend fishy! :)**

**See ya! :)**


	2. The Secret Room

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm here with the next update! **

**Also a thanks to all of my readers, followers and favoriteers! I really appreciate you guys! **

**To the ones who came back to read the sequel: Thanks! I'm glad you want to read more! It's because of you guys that this story is even out!**

**And to all the new peoples: Thanks for trying this out! I hope you like it and hope you guys can check out the first one! **

**Here ya go:**

Percy's POV

Malcolm stared at the hidden door in shock, well him and some other officers and Nico.

He turned to us, "How did you find it?"

"Well, "Annabeth started, "Secret passages, and hidden rooms are usually slightly lower than the actual room."

"So," I finished, "It causes the room to have a slight incline."

Annabeth picked up her earing, "All we had to do was to roll something to see which direction the incline was..."

Malcolm nodded approvingly. "Looks like that shopping trip with Piper came in handy," he teased.

Annabeth smiled, "Yeah, I'll have to thank her later." Off to the side I noticed Nico examining the door in a confused manner. I went over to him.

"Did you know about this?" I asked.

Nico shook his head, "No, I had no clue..." he trailed off. Annabeth called me over and I motioned for Nico to follow me. We all went through the door which actually led to some stairs. we descended down the stone steps and found ourselves in a pretty normal sized room. The walls were stoney and there were a few light fixtures on top. There was a long table in the center with a lot of chairs on either side.

"It looks like a meeting room," I pointed out.

"A secret meeting room that one has to enter via a secret passage..."Annabeth expanded, her eyes scanning the room.

"Secret society?" I asked examining the table.

"Could be. I can't find any sign of a crest or sign that identifies the group," she was looking at the walls for any clue. I noticed that the light fell in half her face giving a slight shadow to the other side. She looked like a mysterious hidden beauty. I shook my thoughts and turned my attention away from my girlfriend and on the table in front of me. It was like a normal conference table, like one you'd see in an office. It looked a bit out of place among the dark stone walls. I walked the perimeter of the table when I saw something. It was a very faint white powder. Curious I touched it with my finger and sniffed it slightly. Oh god.

"Annabeth," I called out. She stood up from where she had been crouching by the wall.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I think you can add drug cartel to the list," I said still examining the white powder on my finger.

"What?" she asked coming over.

I held out my finger for her to see.

"Is that-" she started and I cut her off.

"Cocaine," I finished.

-LINEBREAK-

"The secret meeting room for a possible drug cartel where drugs are exchanged openly, the secret entrance being in a bookstore that is obviously a front. And a break in at said bookstore resulting in a person being injured. Quite a case," Annabeth summed up. I smiled at her,

"Yes, quite the case," I agreed. We walked over to Nico who was finally allowed to clean stuff up, most of the police had left or where examining the secret room.

"We just have a few more questions," Annabeth said. I noticed Nico looked more troubled since the discovery of the secret door. He seemed more thoughtful and confused. Was he trying to hide something? I had a feeling that his role went beyond store employee.

"How long have you been working here?" Annabeth asked.

"A little more than a month," Nico responded.

"And have you ever noticed anything weird. Like people coming in and going towards the back and disappearing for a long time or any suspicious customers?" she continued her questioning.

Nico thought for a bit, "I guess. There are really weird people who come in here in general and a couple have gone in the back. But if you're wondering how people might get into the secret room, there is a back door that is next to the staff room." He added.

Of course, I walked right past the back door when I had entered the staff break room. How did I miss that, maybe cause Annabeth had been gripping my arm. I was so whipped.

Annabeth nodded, "Okay, is the back door locked normally?"

"It isn't during business hours, usually, but it's locked up when the place closes." Nico explained.

"Who locks up usually?" Annabeth asked. Nico answered slowly,

"Um sometimes I do, other times it's her. We usually lock up and leave together." There was definitely something between that girl and Nico, a glance from Annabeth told me she agreed.

"What was her name?" Annabeth asked gently.

Nico looked at the floor, "Bianca."

**A/N: Well? Good? Bad? You like? Please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! **

**See ya! :)**


	3. Meetings and Times

**A/N: Hey guys! So so so sorry I took forever to update! So this chapter is more to advance the plot and the case, so it might not be that great, if so forgive me! I promise to give you more in the next chapter.**

**Here it is:**

"So where are we?" I asked as I 'decorated' the room with pictures and other things related to the case. Percy was looking through the notes that some other officers had made.

"Well," he started, "There are a couple of questions that really need to be answered." I nodded at him to continue.

"One, who uses the secret meeting room?" Percy put out the question.

"Well, since there were traces of drugs, we can assume it's a drug cartel," I said thoughtfully, "or it could be a gang."

"That does give us a motive, maybe the store was broken into by a rival gang. The store is a front, it could be that the rivals found out about it..." Percy trailed off.

I smiled at him, "That makes a lot of sense. Gangs are constantly trying to one-up each other and this could be a warning or threatening gesture."

Percy nodded, scribbling down the theories, I was glad because I liked to keep things organized. I knew Percy was doing this mostly for my benefit, he hated to write. I gave him a kiss on the cheek. I turned away before I met his amazing eyes that I knew would convince me to kiss him again, on the lips.

"Okay, next question," I prompted. Percy pouted but continued.

"Moving on to people, there is something suspicious about Nico."

I nodded, "I agree, I don't think he has lied to us but I feel like he is not telling us everything."

"And who is Bianca and what is her relation to Nico?" Percy pondered.

"She could be a girlfriend, or maybe someone he liked. Or she could just be a friend. They were the only two employees besides the 'manager' Caleb, they could have just gotten close." I added in.

There was a slight knock on the door before Malcolm stuck his head in, "We have security footage."

-BREAK-

"There are camera's in the front and a little in the back of the store. None point directly at the staff lounge area. There is also no camera by the back door but we have footage from the back door of a nearby business. It's not the best but it's the best we can do" Malcolm explained all this as we sat down to watch the footage. We all chose a screen to watch and proceeded to stare at the screen in hope of finding something. About fifteen minutes later I noticed something.

"Stop!" I said and Malcolm paused everything. I took the remote and went back a little bit.

"This camera is placed opposite the staff area on the other end of the store. Now see the guy at the corner of the screen, he comes in every friday and every other wednesday. Now he could just be a normal customer but it is still strange. Also he is just on the edge of the frame and if he continues walking in that direction we would get to the staff room." I pointed out.

"What are the times?" Percy asked.

"Well, fridays it's at night around ten, which is after the store closes, and wednesdays about noon," I answered.

"Well I was going to point out some people but I'm not sure if they have a pattern. But your times help," Percy added.

"Around ten, a group of people walk by in the direction of the back door of the book store, but I haven't seen a pattern yet, sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. It's usually on fridays but they come other days at times too. Wednesdays, like you said or other seemingly random days..." Percy trailed off.

"I'm with Percy on this. Since this is the front camera there are a lot of people who come and go, but I have seen the same group come in. But the times are all messed up..." Malcolm spoke up.

We were all quite for a minute thinking, then Percy spoke up.

"Maybe they switch off?" then noticing our looks he continued, "maybe the group switches what entrance they come through? They may use the back door on week and the front door another time, they have keys to both either way..."

Then the cross checking started. Percy had a strong point, one that was most likely true. I looked at my boyfriend as he worked. His face was focused as he watched the videos intently, jotting down time and dates, checking them with Malcolm's. He looked so handsome, I had to resist the urge to kiss him. He looked up and noticed me looking at him and smirked. I rolled my eyes but blushed and looked down. He was my boyfriend, I could look at him whenever I felt like but for some reason I was still blushing.

I felt my head being raised by my chin and looked up to see the pair of gorgeous green eyes.

"So, you were checking me out?" he whispered teasing me.

"What if I was?" I answered defiantly.

"Well then, I'll just have to do this..." Percy bent his head slightly and gave me a small kiss while Malcolm was turned away.

"Percy," I reprimanded softly, after we pulled away.

"So here is what we have," Malcolm spoke then, looking down at the list in his hands. We turned to him.

"They alternate every week for fridays. It seems like there is a regular meeting every friday, and the wednesdays that they do have meetings, they come in through the front like normal customers because the store is still open then. I don't know about the other days though..."

"So there is a meeting every friday at ten and every alternate wednesday," I mused. I went back to my screen.

"What time do these guys show up?" I asked Malcolm. He checked the list. All around ten, sometimes five minutes before sometimes at ten...the exact times vary..."

"Well we can assume the meeting starts somewhere between 10:05-10:10 because they are never later than 10:05," Percy pointed out.

I frowned, "This guy shows up at exactly 9:45, every time there is a meeting. And he stays there until 10:00. He must be a guard or someone who ensures everyone who is coming is actually supposed to be there and stuff."

Percy nodded, "There has to be some security, he probably shows up with the leader and then stays to make sure everyone is there."

"What time do these meeting end?" I asked aloud? That led to more digging through footage until we were able to map out the times.

"These meeting end around midnight, sometimes going over but usually around then," Malcolm stated finally as we finished recording the times.

We all slumped back in our chairs.

"Well at least we figured out when these meeting happen," Percy said looking on the bright side.

"Now we just have to figure out why and who's in it," I frowned at the unanswered questions.

"Well that will have to be done tomorrow it's almost ten," Malcolm pointed out. We collected our things, said goodbye to Malcolm and stepped out into the cool night air.

Percy opened the passenger side door and I got in. I was really tired, and hungry. Our lunch date seemed so long ago.

"Want to grab some pizza and go to my place?" Percy asked as he started up the car.

"Yeah, that sounds great," I said as I leaned back. Percy took my hand in his and I relaxed even more. As I rested my head on the back of the seat I couldn't help but think that I was extremely lucky to have him.

**A/N: Well? Sorry if it's not that great but they need to move along with the case somehow...**

**Plwase review! I love feedback! **

**See ya! :)**


	4. Employees and Gangs

**A/N: Hey guys! Here is another chapter for you all! Hope you like it! Also thank you for your support! I was surprised that people liked the last chapter, so glad that you guys are liking the plot and the mystery! Thanks!**

**Here it is:**

I woke up the next morning with another body pressed against mine. I looked down to see Annabeth snuggled up to my side. She looked so peaceful sleeping, I carefully moved a strand of hair out of her face. Last night we had eaten pizza and Annabeth had stayed over because it was getting late and we were both really tired. I had fallen asleep minutes after I had laid down, Annabeth falling asleep seconds before me. I closed my eyes again, savoring the moment. Annabeth shifted a bit and then slowly woke up. She looked up at me through droopy eyes.

"Good morning gorgeous," I said smiling. She smiled back and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before rolling over.

"Percy! Why didn't you wake me earlier, we're gonna be late," she admonished turning back. I tightened my grip on her,

"You looked so peaceful asleep, I didn't want to wake you."

She shook her head but her eyes were twinkling,

"Fine, but let me go! I have to change," she said.

"No!" I refused, so what if I was being childish.

"Percy," Annabeth warned.

"No!" I said again.

She leaned and kissed me on the cheek, "Now let me go so I can brush my teeth and kiss you." Well you can't argue with that logic, I reluctantly let her go. She got out and went to my dresser. She had stayed over a couple times and had a whole drawer to herself so she would have fresh clothes. She had changed into some sweatpants yesterday and a T-shirt before she had gone to sleep, now she pulled out another pair of clothes to wear and headed to the bathroom. I leaned back in bed, mind as well get some more sleep in.

-BREAK-

"See we're not that late," I told her as we entered the police station later on. She gave me a look and we made our way to the conference room. It should really have a name, I thought, The Room.

We had just barely sat down when Malcolm came in with more files in his hands,

"Good Morning guys," he said with a smile. I eyed the stack warily,

"Is all that for us?" I asked.

Malcolm winced, "I'm afraid so. These are some of the store's records and such, I would help but I have to report to the captain."

"Alright, thanks Mal," Annabeth said taking a file from the top.

-BREAK-

"Who worked there before Nico and Bianca?" I brought up the question.

Annabeth looked up from the board and flipped through a file, scanning the names.

"Well, the shop is relatively new, it's only about three years old. In that time frame they have had various employees. 14 to be exact. Two have not left according to recent records. Caleb Bruce and Cole Bruce. They're brothers and are both managers. I don't think Cole has been their in a while because we haven't heard from him, and Caleb is on vacation, he should be back by now..." Annabeth ended with a frown.

"He hasn't come in yet, I'm sure we'll see him soon. What about the other employees?" I asked.

Annabeth projected the list of all the employee names and when they worked. Something seemed a bit off.

"These are going by regular intervals!" I exclaimed. I got up and went to the board, drawing lines separating the names.

"Look, they have only had two employees work at at time, and only for six months. After six months they have switched the employees and new ones come in. The only two of the fourteen that stay are the managers Cole and Caleb Bruce," I pointed out.

Annabeth closed her eyes, thinking. I stared back at the list, trying to figure out what that could mean as well.

"Percy!" Annabeth suddenly broke the silence.

"What?" I said.

"This bookstore is a front for a gang or something of the sort, right, and members come in through the store as well. The whole show is run by members, that means the employees must also be a part of it." She paused and moved to the side to see another file.

"Gangs, cults, or any similar groups have a certain process for how one joins to become a member, they also have hierarchies. Maybe the employees are prospects as future members and them working at the store is their first 'test' I guess. It helps the people higher up in the gang to decide if they are good enough to join, and these employees become one of the lower levels of the hierarchy. After the six month trial period is up, they leave to do other work for the gang, or move higher up in the social ladder," Annabeth explained.

"That checks out, Caleb and Cole might be the trainers, higher up on the social ladder. The rest would be, like you said, lower members." I agreed, and got my cell out,

"We can compare the employees to any names we have on our records for gang activity."

"Hey Travis, Conner! I got some names for you to check up, see if any of them come up in the records," I spoke into the phone. They immediately started cross-referencing, in a matter of minutes I had a list in my hands.

I looked up at Annabeth and smiled, "You were right! Some of these guys have showed up in NYPD records as possible gang members. They have some criminal history, break-ins, robbery, assault...it goes on."

Annabeth smiled back, but it turned into a frown, "If I'm right, then that means Nico and Bianca were both possible gang members, maybe even already part of the gang."

**A/N: So? What did ya think?**

**Also most of the stuff you'll see about the gangs is true. It's based of a real gang that I read about. Of course, the details might not apply to all gangs but for this one, that's how it is. I will make some parts up of course cause I don't know everything but hopefully you guys like it! **

**If anyone want's to check it out there's this book called **_**Gang Leader for a Day **_**by Sudhir Venkatesh and this is a true story. It does have language so if you're younger than 13 or 14 you might want to wait to read it...**

**Anyway! Please review! **

**See ya! :)**


	5. Identities

**A/N: Hey guys! Here with the next update! :) **

**Here goes:**

Annabeth's POV:

"They could provide us with information, if we can get them to cooperate." Percy said thoughtfully.

I nodded, "The only way to get to the leaders is by going up the hierarchy."

There was a knock as Malcolm poked his head in.

"Guys, Caleb Bruce is back. He went straight to the bookstore but showed up here a few minutes ago," he explained.

I motioned to Percy and we followed Malcolm out to another room where Caleb Bruce was waiting. He was an average height, slightly heavy built, with black hair and black eyes. He was pacing back and forth and looked up when we entered.

Percy put out a hand, "Detective Jackson, and this is detective Chase. We are working on this case."

Caleb shook our hands, "Hello, I would like to know, have you figured out who broke in?" He was straight to the point.

Percy shook his head, "I'm afraid not, we think it might just be a prank of some kind considering nothing was taken," he ended the sentence with a questioning note.

Caleb looked down, "No, nothing was taken." He hesitated for a bit then asked,

"I hear that you found a secret room or something?"

Percy and I shared glances before I spoke up,

"Yes we did, we found a hidden passage that led to a room. Do you know anything about that?"

Caleb looked clearly agitated, "No, I had no idea that it was there." He was lying, the way his eyes were shifting. He seemed to hesitate again before asking,

"What do you think it's for?" he asked. I shot Percy a look, he was trying to figure out how far we'd come in the investigation, we wanted to know how much of a risk we were.

Percy spoke slowly, "We're not sure. It seems like a meeting room, but we have no clue as to what it's used for. There were no clues on site."

"Also," I added in, "We don't know when it was last used, it could have been dormant for a while now."

Caleb relaxed a tiny bit, his shoulders relaxed and he looked a lot less agitated. Percy spoke up,

"Where were you?"

"Oh, I was on vacation visiting some relatives in Chicago. The flight was delayed so I couldn't get here earlier," Caleb explained.

Percy nodded, "And can you tell us who is the owner of the store?"

Caleb shrugged, "I don't know, some really rich dude. I've only talked to him once or twice, he's left me in charge of everything."

"Alright, thank you," I said jotting down the information.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, we will inform you of the case," Percy said shaking his hand once more. And with that Caleb Bruce left.

-BREAK-

"He was sent here to see how far we were," I said thoughtfully.

"On orders from the people higher up. We need to be really careful, we can't not tell him anything or they will suspect but we can't give away anything either," Percy agreed.

"He was really agitated, and nervous, he was clearly lying about the meeting room," I pointed out.

"True, but he seemed truthful when he said nothing was missing," Percy said.

"What about the owner. Caleb seemed to be telling the truth about only hearing from him once," I looked through the file again.

"Do you think the owner knows about the gang or is he completely oblivious?" Percy asked. I passed him the file.

"Legally the property is owned by a man named Patrick Down..." I trailed off. I grabbed Percy's phone and called up Travis and Connor.

"Hey guys, give me a rundown on Patrick Down," I said putting it on speaker.

"Will do Annabeth, give us a sec." Travis answered.

"Okay so he is really rich, owns a lot of property around New York. He barely ever visits the properties though, he still collects part of the revenues made..." Conner told us.

"Also, he's rumored to work for someone else but the identity if the person is unknown, it is possible that he doesn't work for anyone but evidence suggests otherwise," Travis added.

"So it's entirely possible that Patrick had no idea about the gangs and secret meeting room," Percy said.

"That is likely, he's out of country at the moment, he's in France," Conner said.

"Thanks guys," I said and we hung up.

"Well he's still a possible suspect but he's not as strong." I said to Percy.

"This case is getting more complicated by the second," he agreed.

Malcolm rushed in, "We have Nico."

-LINEBREAK-

Nico was standing there with a pair of handcuffs on him with two police officers on either side, he looked ruffled.

"We caught him sneaking around, past the tape. He refused to follow orders and tried to run away," One of them explained.

Nico looked pissed off, "I was chasing someone and I would have had him if you hadn't stopped me."

"Likely story, you were breaking the law and you will be taken in for questioning," One of them said.

"Let me go," Nico said in a calm voice. He turned to us,

"You do not want to make the mistake of putting me in jail." He shrugged off the security guards.

"Unlock him," I said to them as they tried to hold him again. They looked at me surprised.

"Do it," Percy commanded them. They did and Nico smiled.

"Special Agent Nico Di Angelo, CIA," he said showing us his ID.

**A/N: Well? What did you think? Anyone see that coming? **

**Please review! **

**See ya! :)**


	6. Information

**A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter!**

**Once again thanks to all my reviewers/favoriteers/followers! I appreciate the support! Thank you!**

**Here ya go: **

Percy's POV:

"I just got clearance from the CIA to reveal myself or I would have done so earlier," Nico said apologetically.

"It's fine agent," I said as we led him to our conference room.

"Please call me Nico," he said addressing both of us.

"Alright Nico, so tell us why you're here," Annabeth asked.

"Um, I think this will be easier if you guys tell me what you've figured out," Nico said as we all sat down.

So Annabeth and I explained the case as we knew it so far. Nico nodded impressed,

"Wow, you guys already have a lot figured out, and in such a short time too," he praised.

"I'll explain why I'm here. You're right about the gang. The CIA has been looking into some illegal activities and a majority have been traced to a single source. This gang is bigger than it seems, they have branches everywhere, and they're involved in many different activities but mainly drugs." Nico explained.

"The gang calls itself the Black Spades. They have a lot of rivals but their main one is East Harlem. I think they might be the ones the broke in. I agree with you that it was just a warning because nothing is missing, not that I can tell. And Caleb has been over the place too, I don't think he found anything missing. My mission is to figure out who runs the whole show, and having you guys help is really moving it along," Nico added.

"No problem, that's become our goal as well," Annabeth smiled at him.

"So, if we are right on our theory that employees are future gang members then you might have an in already," I said.

Nico nodded, "Yeah, I'm just gonna play along with this and see where it takes me. The thing with this gang is any members caught are only the low ones, they don't provide us with any information and they aren't that important in the first place. We have to play along with their rules to get to the top."

"In the meantime we have to close this case, if not we won't be able to get anywhere. We don't want them abandoning the bookstore," Annabeth said.

I nodded, we had to tell the Captain. So the three of us and Malcolm made our way to the Captain's office.

We explained the whole deal, the gangs, our plan, Nico. After hearing everything the Captain agreed, we were going to 'close the case.' Nico called his superiors and verified our plan with them as well. At the end everything was decided.

Annabeth turned to Malcolm who had dealt with the press.

"The press hasn't got a clue about the hidden room right?" she asked.

Malcolm nodded, "they have no idea."

"Great, so we are gonna call it a joke or prank, nothing serious, because nothing was taken. Have the police leave the premises, and let the store go back into business," She instructed.

"Will do, what about the Caleb?" Malcolm asked.

"Just tell him that the Hidden room has given us no clues and we think that it has been dormant for a long time, dismiss its importance basically," I answered.

Malcolm nodded and left to put things in action.

I turned to Annabeth who was looking after Malcolm thoughtfully,

"What are you thinking about Wise Girl?" I asked putting an arm around her.

"Hmm? Nothing, just this whole thing, what we're about to do..." she trailed off.

"You're always thinking babe, come on I need food! I haven't eaten in like a day!" I exclaimed.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and shoved me playfully, "You ate breakfast this morning Perce."

"That was ages ago, plus it's lunch time!" I pointed out.

"Alright, alright. Let me get my bag,"and she left to go get her bag from the conference room. I looked after her.

"You really love her don't you?" Nico said from beside me. I was a bit startled, I had forgotten he was there.

"Yeah..." I trailed off. I saw Nico smirk from the corner of my eye.

"You want to come eat with us?" I offered.

"It's okay, you guys go on your date," he refused.

"No, it's fine really-" I was cut off,

"What's fine?" Annabeth had returned.

"I was telling Nico it's fine for him to come along with us," I explained.

"Of course! Come on Nico," she said immediately. Nico looked from her to me then, sighing, accepted.

-LINEBREAK-

We were all sitting at a table eating our food talking about various cases. Annabeth telling him about our last one with Lance.

"So, he almost killed you?" Nico asked with an eyebrow raised. I didn't blame him, she literally walked into that one.

"Well, kind of, Percy was still in the room and like a dozen police officers were there so I was relatively safe," she answered.

Nico shook his head. As we ate the last of our food, his cell phone rang.

"Hello?" he picked it up. "Yes...WHAT! okay! yes, i'll be right there!"

"What happened?" Annabeth asked as we all stood up.

"Bianca, she's awake," Nico said his face a bit pale. I paid quickly and we all left.

As we all got into my car Annabeth asked the question,

"Who is Bianca?"

Nico took a deep breath, "She's a CIA agent as well, and my sister."

**A/N: Well? What did you think? **

**Please review!**

**See ya! :)**


	7. Bianca

**A/N: Hey guys! Back again! So this is kind of a filler chapter and also to introduce another clue...so yeah, sorry if it's not all that great.**

**Here ya go:**

Annabeth's POV:

We rushed into the hospital, Nico in the lead, and into the room where Bianca was. Percy and I stayed back as Nico went to the bed to see her. His eyes softened and he looked vulnerable like a child as he looked down at his older sister.

Bianca's eyes fluttered open as Nico rested his hand on her head and smoothed back her hair.

"Nicky?" she said softly looking up at him. Nico looked like he was gonna cry,

"I'm not a kid Bianca," he said, no doubt referring to the nickname, but his voice cracked at the end.

"Hey, I'm still here, I haven't left you. Cheer up Nicks," she said smiling up at her brother, taking his hand and squeezing it. He smiled back at her. Bianca's gaze shifted to us, Nico noticed and motioned us over.

"These are detectives Chase and Jackson of the NYPD, they are gonna help us with the case," Nico introduced.

Bianca turned to us, "That's nice, have you gotten anywhere?" So Nico, Percy and I explained everything as quickly as we could. When we were done Bianca looked thoughtful,

"I was assigned to come a week earlier than Nico, I've noticed something but I'm not sure. I think they might have a pattern with the books-"she stopped suddenly and she froze up for a second. Her eyes looked panicked. I immediately rushed to call a nurse or a doctor. As soon as they arrived we were ushered out as they tried to figure out what was wrong.

The wait outside was terrible. There was a silence that seemed to overshadow the hospitals normalcy. Nico was pale, paler than he had been before. He was pacing then sitting down for a while then pacing. His eyes showed more worry and panic. He looked like a lost child.

Finally a doctor came out and told us that she was okay for now, and that the attack was triggered by her previous concussion. She would be okay, but there was a chance the stability could slip.

-LINEBREAK-

We went back to the police station a bit shaken up. Malcolm met us as soon as we entered,

"What happened?" he asked noticing the looks on our faces. I gave him a look telling him I would let him know later.

"Anyway, we are closing up the case, if you will. The police will be leaving shortly and I've already talked to Caleb." He continued.

Percy nodded, "That's good. We can finally progress." We entered the conference room again, and no one spoke for a second.

"She'll be okay," I said finally, "She's strong, she'll be okay."

Nico just shrugged then sat down to look at the case. We did the same.

"Bianca said..." Percy started cautiously, "Something about books, do you know anything about that?" he asked.

Nico shook his head thoughtfully, "I don't think so, the place is a bookstore, it's covered in books..."

"Maybe the books tell us something about the gang," Percy said helpfully.

"No doubt, but which books, there has to be something that stands out," I continued the thought.

"Well-" Nico started but was cut off by his phone. He picked it up,

"Hello?" he said, "Oh, yeah...um they brought be to the police to ask some questions... No they are done now, I'm out...really?...okay...yeah I'll be there...bye." He hung up and turned to us,

"That was Caleb, he wants me at the store. I gotta go, but we'll stay in touch. If you guys come up with anything, tell me," he said quickly grabbing his jacket.

"We will, bye and good luck with Caleb," Percy and I waved bye to him as he left the room.

"He is really good at hiding emotions," I said after a moment. Percy nodded,

"He cares for his sister a lot, yet even when she's in the state that she is he is still focusing on the task," he added.

"I think," I started, "that he is willing to do whatever it is to finish what she started, in case she doesn't make it."

**A/N: Well? How was it? The Nico Bianca thing okay? Please Review! **

**See ya! :)**


	8. On with the case

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm here with the next chapter! Sorry it's so short! It's juat to establish what going to happen next with the case. And soooooo sorry for taking forever to update! I had to go on a trip so I could only update one story! I promise faster updates from now on!**

**Here ya go:**

ONE WEEK LATER

Percy's POV

It has been a week since we had 'closed up' the case. We had taken on some other smaller cases, that didn't take much to solve. We were essentially waiting for some sign from Nico that the gang would start using the meeting room again. We were in the conference room looking over notes from this case when my phone rang.

"Hello," I said into the phone.

"Percy, it's Nico," Nico's voice answered.

"Nico! Finally! What's new?"I asked also putting it on speaker so Annabeth could here.

"New employee, she started here today," Nico spoke.

"What's her name?" Annabeth asked.

"Hazel Levesque," he said, Annabeth quickly wrote it down.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"I think that the meetings are going to start again soon, I overheard Caleb talking about opening up again," he informed.

"That's great! It's Sunday so they will either start alternate wednesday meetings this week and if not there is the friday one," Annabeth said checking the notes from before.

"Yeah, I'll be on the look out for the group you told me about," Nico responded.

"And did you figure out anything about the books?" I asked him.

"I've looked through the records and hacked into the system, thanks to your friends Travis and Connor by the way, and I haven't noticed anything unusual. It may become clearer this week, " he said.

"Okay, great. We're gonna run a background check on the new girl and I'll text you the findings," I replied.

"Sounds good," and with that and we all said bye and hung up.

Annabeth immediately called Travis and Connor,

"Hello! The geniuses are here, what can we do for you," the voice said through her phone. Annabeth rolled her eyes,

"Travis, I need you to run a background check," she said.

"Of course I need a name, and it's Connor. I thought you knew us better than this!" he said dramatically.

"Sorry Connor, and the name is Hazel Levesque."

" Found her, okay so it looks like she grew up in the ghettos if you will. Her dad left her mom, and it looks like her mom was involved in some gang activity. She might have an in through that," he continued

"Everything else is normal, she's not super poor or anything, they are getting by. Her record is clean, no robberies or anything like that. She doesn't even seem to be involved in gang activity. She recently graduated college. He works at the bookstore of course and she has another job at a pawn shop," Travis added on.

"And that's about all, there isn't much to her. If she's involved in anything she's really good at hiding it. Oh and Annabeth?" Conner came back on the line.

"I'm only joking, I am Travis." Annabeth face palmed, then she started laughing.

"Really guys!" she said still laughing at them.

"What?" they said in unison, I could imagine the grins on their faces.

"I didn't know you read that," Annabeth said.

"Of course! Fred and George are our heros!" they said back. Annabeth laughed again before thanking them and ending the call.

"What?" I asked as I was so confused.

Annabeth came over to me, "You are so cute when you looks so confused like that," she said. And then she leaned in and kissed me. I guess I'd find out what all that was about later, right now I was a bit occupied by my amazing girlfriend.

**A/N: Well? Any Potterheads out there? **

**Please review!**

**See ya! :)**


	9. Book Codes

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm soooo sorry! Again! I know I'm late...but this was a really hard chapter because I had to figure out a lot of stuff...**

**Sorry! **

**Here it is:**

Annabeth's POV:

We got a call from Nico the next day,

"Hey, here is something that might or might not mean something," he said as soon as Percy picked up.

"What?" Percy asked into the phone.

"Well, I had forgotten about this, but everyday we have the 'Book of The Day' in the store..." Nico trailed off.

"You think it might connect to what Bianca was talking about?" I asked him.

"Well it's possible, it's one what to distinguish books from other books" he replied.

"That's true. What are you thinking?" I asked.

"Code. The letters in the titles, certain words. They might spell out something," he responded.

"It's worth a shot," Percy agreed

"Yeah, or maybe it's something to do with the book itself, or the list of books in order in a particular month...the possibilities are endless. And for all we know it might be a dead end," Nico mused.

"Send us the list of books," I told him.

"Yep, I'll text you a pic of the list for the past 2-3 weeks," he affirmed, and hung up. A second later we had a list.

_Books of the day:_

_1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_

_2. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury_

_3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_

_4. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie_

_5. 39 Clues Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan_

_6. The Hound of Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle_

_7. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie_

_8. The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan_

_9. Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster_

We stared at the list.

"Well Maybe there is pattern with the first letters?" Percy asked. We tired. The first letter down the list, on a row with each other the titles. Nothing worked.

"Maybe its the second letter, or a combination?" I mused. That didn't work either. There were too many possibilities.

"The first title alone doesn't make sense, if you group HA and Po, it doesn't make anything," Percy said frustrated.

"Maybe HA PO AT DE HA..." I tried the letters at the beginning of every word. And again for the list.

"Wait! if this is a code then the code has to be in that day's book. The people can't see the whole list for the week, so it's highly unlikely there is a code with the list," I pointed out.

Percy nodded, "I see what you mean, we have to only focus on a book title..."

And we did but came up with nothing.

"The problem is, is that there are so many letters they can spell out anything. We don't know which words to put emphasis on," he stated.

That gave me an idea, I called Nico,

"Hey Nico, how do you choose the Book of the day?" I asked as soon as he picked up.

"We don't, the sign is printed out each day, we just get it from the printer and hang it up," he responded.

"Send us a picture if the sign for today," I instructed.

"Okay," and he hung up.

A second later a new picture appeared. It showed the display. A sign overhead read Book of the Day and underneath that was a printed sheet of paper,

TaLeS Of fourth GRADe nOthINg by juDY BLume. The letters were colorful, Tales being all orange except for S that was blue, of being yellow, fourth being red, grad being green and E at the end was red. N was red and OTHIN was blue. JU was red and DY BL were purple. UME were green.

"They way they write it!" I exclaimed.

"Why do they do that? it makes the code more easily detectable if you know what to look for," Percy pointed out.

"It's just a creative way of writing it. Plus they don't expect people to think they are a gang," I explained.

"So lets start with, capital letter?" Percy asked. So we did. All the captalized letters spelled out yo TLSOGRADOINDYBL, so in other words nothing.

"Well there is 'grad' in the middle, and it could be 'doing' also in there," Percy pointed.

"What about the small, we return to this only is the other options don't work," I said. The small case letters said, aeffourthenthgbyjuume.

"That makes a bit more sense, spells out more words," I said dubiously. We both examined the title again.

"Wait! Colors! Check the colors," Percy almost shouted. We started with red, it spelled out fourth,n,e, ju,.

"June fourth!" I said, "If you read ju and go backwards, june and then fourth. It's a date!" I yelled. I turned to Percy to give him a hug.

"Nice one Perce!" He smiled and returned the hug.

"But we have to make sure it's the same for the other titles," Percy said after we pulled back.

He called Nico to see if he could send us the signs that had been used before. Apparently all the signs were thrown out at the end of the day, there was no way to test our theory.

Percy hung up with a sigh.

"It's like taking two steps forward and one step back." I nodded,

"There has to be another way to get those signs. Are there pictures? Or..." I turned to him, "Security footage?" I ended hopefully.

We tore out of the room and back to where the security footage was, after fiddling with the cameras we found one that had the display clearly shown.

"Yes!" I exclaimed getting out a notepad,

"Alright you read the red parts of the each of the names, I'll write them down," Percy nodded and went to the book where Nico's list started.

"First Book, Harry Potter one, red parts are o, n,e, death, J, R," he read off.

"One death JR. JR could be initials," I said. Percy forwarded to the next sign,

"Second one,51, Ray," he read off, I nodded for him to continue, " Third, S, O, S, by, W, G. Fourth book,..." and he went on until I had a list complied.

1. one death JR

2. 51 Ray

3. SOS by WG

4. Death NAC

5. 9 clue bones KD

6. Hound kill by Arthur

7. Murder Express AC

8. Red Pyramid

9. Tom Booth

and today's: June Fourth

"This definitely sounds like a code," Percy agreed. "The first one could mean the death of a person, with those initials," he continued.

"Second could be a date May first and ray could be a name..." I mused.

"Third is an obvious call for help and fourth could be another death," Percy went on.

"So we have possibly cracked the code, but we still don't know what some of the names and stuff mean and are," I sighed, leaning back.

"Yeah, but we have one clear clue. June Fourth. It's at the end of this week, something may happen," Percy stared at the list.

We called Nico and told him to come to the station as soon as possible, and that we had figured out the code. He said he'd be here in ten minutes.

Percy and I trudged back into the conference room and plopped down on the chairs.

I closed my eyes, this case was turning out to be more complex by the minute. Percy came up behind me and put his hands on my shoulders. I opened my eyes and looked up into his green ones. It was a calming effect.

"Hey beautiful," he smiled down at me. I played along,

"Hey handsome." He grinned and pulled me out of the chair and up against him. I hugged him back breathing in his sent.

"We'll figure this out," he reassured, knowing the doubts going through my mind.

I looked up at him, and he leaned down and kissed me. This case was complicated but I figured as long as I was with Percy, everything will be just fine.

**A/N: Yeah, bad ending...sorry. **

**So how was it? Please review!**

**See ya! :)**


	10. Different Perspective

**A/N: Hey guys! The next chapter is here! **

**Here ya go:**

Percy's POV:

Nico came to the police station with a bloody nose, and an almost unconscious kid.

"What happened?" Annabeth cried as soon as she saw him. He waved away the medical care she tried to supply him with.

"So you guys figured out the code?" he asked.

"Nico, what the hell happened to you!" I asked, refusing to answer his question.

He sighed as he sat down, holding the bloody napkin to his face.

"Got in a fight with these guys who were beating up the kid," he said, allowing Annabeth to hand him a wipe.

"Gang members?" she asked.

"I think so, not sure which one, thanks," he said as I handed him another napkin.

"Let's hope it wasn't the Black Spades, you don't want to start of on the wrong foot with them," Annabeth said logically.

"I hope so too," Nico muttered.

"What about the kid?" I asked, looking to the area where they had led him to help fix him up

"He was doing well on his own, almost overtook them, but then they got his leg," Nico explained.

We went into the room where the kid was sitting, he had a few bandages on him but he seemed to be pretty okay, just shaken up. I examined him, he had old jeans and a jacket on, with a backpack on his shoulder. His hair was long-ish and he had a strong build.

I knelt down to talk to the teen,

"Hey, are you okay?" I asked quietly.

He didn't answer and looked down into his lap.

"These people will help," Nico explained.

The boy looked up again and looked at the three of us before nodding

"Do you know who it was that was trying to hurt you?" I asked. The boy shrugged. Annabeth stepped forward and knelt down.

"What's you name?" she asked in a kind voice offering a smile. The kid looked at her.

"I'm Annabeth," she introduced, giving a wave.

"Tyson," he spoke for the first time.

"That's nice, how old are you?" she asked him kindly. Tyson hesitated before answering,

"Sixteen."

"Cool, and tell me, how long have you been in the streets?" Annabeth's voice was still kind.

"How, how did you know?" Tyson asked surprised. I was a bit surprised to, he didn't look homeless, maybe from a bad home but not completely on the streets.

Annabeth's gaze held as she responded, "You're smart, you take care of yourself well. Just by looking I wouldn't have guessed. But I know you have been, did you run away from home?" she asked.

"I..I never had a 'home' my parents died when I was young, then I was sifted through countless relatives, I finally left," he said a bit bitterly.

Annabeth nodded, "I'm sorry," she said and stood up. I faced him,

"Hey Tyson, you know who those men were. They were part of a gang, which one?" I asked. This kid was smarter than he made himself out to be, that was for sure.

"East Harlem, they aren't that scary, mostly all talk and no show. These guys just like beating people up, they've done it before, but I got them off and ran," he said casually.

I shared a look with Nico and Annabeth, no kid should go through that, yet he had an extensive knowledge on gangs.

"Are you part of one?" Nico asked.

Tyson seemed surprised by the question, "If I was you'd lock me up," he said suspiciously.

"No we wouldn't," I said simply. I really hoped he believed me, because it was the truth.

Tyson sighed,

"No, I've been considering it, you get more protection that way..." he trailed off.

"What do you mean?" I asked confused.

Tyson laughed, "You guys have no clue how gangs work do you,"

"No not really, care to tell us?" Nico asked. Tyson seemed to think.

"Wait!" Annabeth said suddenly. We all looked at her,

"Let's get some lunch and you can tell us then," she offered. Tyson agreed and we all went to a McDonalds nearby. When everyone had food, we all sat down and ate and Tyson began his explanation.

"Gangs can be a good thing, especially in the ghettos. Gangs offer protection against others, being part of a gang lets you be with them. Their territories allow for a place to live for a lot of people, and they offer protection and help for the families that are under them. Not being part of a gang is more dangerous because you are likely to get beat up, or caught in crossfire. Gangs offer some money too, yeah at the bottom level you make barely any money but as you make your way up you can keep some profits. It's illegal, it's violent at times, it's hard, but in the end they become like family. They provide shelter, food and most of all protection. it's more than what anyone else is going to do for us, living the way we do," Tyson concluded his small speech and took a bite of his sandwich.

Annabeth, Nico and I stared at each other, shocked at all a gang did. Who knew their influence was so widespread and even beneficial to some.

"It's not like that for all gangs, the smaller ones have less benefits but they do provide the same things. A larger gang has more influence, more money..." Tyson trailed off, to take another bite.

This was a new viewpoint, something I never would have thought possible. Finally Annabeth spoke,

"Thank you Tyson, for telling us about gangs. It's really an eye opener for us..." she trailed off.

Tyson smiled ruefully, "That's the problem with cops, they only see on side of the story." That was true. I was not a police officer who had to deal with these problems, but even as a detective my knowledge was limited and one sided.

"What are you going to do?" I asked him.

"You mean like after we're done here? Well, I'll go to my spot, see if I can get friendly with a gang, free lance for them. Get some cash from small jobs...I don't know..." Tyson replied.

"Why can't you return to your relatives house?" Annabeth asked.

"They dont want me anyway. They aren't even around that much," he shrugged.

"Go back to your relatives, you don't have to stay with them all the time but at least you'll have a roof over your head until you make some money, then you can get out," Nico explained. Tyson stared at him,

"I suppose I could do that, I hate it there but why not...thats not a bad idea," he thought it over.

"And if you need anything, tell us," I offered. Tyson smiled,

"You want the dirt on things?"

Nico smiled at him appreciate, "Your smart. I'll tell you this, we're detectives. We have a case we're trying to solve, help is hard to come by and you know what's up. I'm not forcing you, but if you got any info and feel like telling, we're here."

Tyson smiled back, "Will do."

"But we are still here if you need anything, just ask us and we'll see what we can do," Annabeth smiled.

Tyson looked at the three of us, "You guys aren't that bad."

"Thank you," I joked. Annabeth rolled her eyes. I turned to her and stuck my tongue out.

"You are so immature," she said amused.

"But you love me for it," I grinned.

"Shut up," was her response.

"You guys dating?" Tyson asked.

I looked at him, I had forgotten he was there, along with Nico, for a moment.

"Yeah," I replied.

Tyson smirked, "Thought so."

-LINEBREAK-

We were back in the conference room with Nico. Tyson had left a while back and we had returned to the station. We had just finished explaining the code to Nico.

"That was clever guys," Nico nodded appreciatively, looking a the notes.

"If we are right something's happening on friday, and we have three days to figure out what," Annabeth said.

"I'll see what I can find out around the store," Nico said.

We sat back thinking of the day's events.

"You think we'll see Tyson anytime soon?" I wondered aloud.

"I think so," Nico replied, "we just might."

"Who knew all that about gangs," Annabeth wondered.

"Yeah that was something new..." I said.

"I think we've been lucky. Have you noticed that? Like the way you guys were able to crack the code. It was a great coincidence that the security camera pointed right at that. You were able to figure things out, even with Tyson we were lucky," Nico pointed out.

"Yeah, we have been. Let's not question and take it as it comes," I said. "I have a feeling we'll be needing lots of luck as we continue this case."

**A/N: Just to be clear, I am not supporting gangs or anything. I'm just bring another prespective to the issue. This is all based if the book I talked about earlier, and those things are true. Maybe not all but to the extent of this gang they are, this is research done a while ago so I'm not sure how much gangs have changed but for now this is what I'm going to roll with. So yeah, not supporting or anything just stating...**

**Anyway, how was it? Please Review!**

**See ya! :)**


	11. Bodies

**A/N: Hey Guys! So I'm a really bad person...I know...Sorry! I've been super busy latley with college visits and everything...**

**Anyway here ya go: **

"What is happening on June fourth? We have two days and we have no lead!" I said pacing back and forth.

"Well we know it's going to be something in or around the store," Percy pointed out. Nico had called earlier with the code for the day and it had read simply: At store.

"True. It has to be something somewhat big, it does relate the store and we know it's an important meeting area," I thought out loud.

There was a knock on the door and Malcolm popped his head in, "You guys might want to see this." He stepped inside the room and put two photographs on the desk. We leaned to look, it was of two dead bodies.

"They were found in an alley, obviously mugged and killed," Malcolm explained.

Percy nodded, "Okay..." Malcolm pulled out two more photographs. They showed the arms of the people, they both had a black spade tatooed on.

"Wait, are you telling me these are gang members?" I asked.

Malcolm shrugged, "Seems like it. There is no identification on them so there isn't that much hope. We're trying to identify them."

"What does this mean?" Percy wondered allowed.

"That's your problem," Malcolm said with a grin as he left.

"They had a tattoo of the black spades on them," Percy pointed out after a moment.

"Yeah..." I said.

"But do all the members have it?" he asked, "I mean Caleb didn't have it, and other people who have been linked to the gang don't have it..."

"So why do these guys do?" I finished his thought.

"Just a thought, for all we know they could all have it, or maybe it's for higher members only," Percy shrugged.

"Or these guys are copycats and aren't even part of the gang," I added on.

"Exactly. There are a lot of unknown variables," Percy finished.

"Let's hope Malcolm is able to identify the dude, and in the meantime lets call Nico," I said. Percy took out his phone and we called him,

"What's up?" Nico asked as he picked up.

"Black Spade members do they have tattoos?" Percy asked. There was a moment of silence as Nico was undoubtedly thinking.

"I dont think so," he said finally. "I see a lot of potential gang members come in and none of them have it, but that doesn't guarantee anything. I'll keep a lookout but I'm sending you something, check it out," he said then hung up. Seconds later we got a message from Nico, it had the details of the CIA case file. Probably why he didn't want to say it out loud.

"It says here, that there is a logo, which is basically a black spade, like the one we saw in the pictures, but the logo is oncomplete," Percy said.

I leaned over to see the screen and saw that it was incomplete. The real loko was a drawing of a black spade but also had the initials BS under it.

"So there is a higher chance of these guys being knock offs," I thought aloud.

"It also says that there is no sign of any bodily markings on gang members to identify them," Percy read from the case file.

"So the CIA goes against the two dead guys," I said.

"Seems so. All evidence at the moment points to tattoos as not a part of the gang," Percy said.

"So basically we have two potential knock-off gang members that have been mugged and killed, and there is something happening in the store on friday which we have no clue about. This just keeps getting better," I said dryly.

"Of course, we signed up for it," Percy shot me a grin.

"Dont remind me," I groaned, but smiled as I felt his arms wrap around me.

"Let's take a break," Percy suggested. I wanted to but I knew that we should be working on the case.

"Annabeth, we're not going to learn anything by pacing back in forth in a room, let's go," Percy said softly, like he knew what I was thinking.

"Okay," I relented. We walked to the place I had now dubbed as "our spot." We leaned against the tree and I was flashbacked to the first time we had come here. It was just before I had to go in as a double. Percy had comforted me, he'd been there through that whole mess. I looked up at him now, as he closed his eyes and leaned back. I felt the need to kiss him, so I did. He immediately kissed back and held me tighter as I settled back in his arms. Whatever this case had to throw at us, Percy would be there to go through it with me.

**A/N: Well? I realize it wasnt the best but it's kind of a filler for whats to come...**

**Please Review!**

**See ya! :)**


	12. Hot Babes

**A/N: Hey guys! Back with the next chapter!**

**Here ya go:**

Percy's POV

"Emergency meeting!" Nico whispered urgently through the other end of the phone.

"What?" I asked perking up.

"Yep, not planned for sure, it's thursday," he said back.

"Where are you?" I asked.

"Hiding in the corner, trying to listen. I want to keep you updated in case I get caught," he replied.

I nodded, then realized he couldn't see me, "Okay," I spoke up.

"Is Annabeth there?" he asked.

"No, she's looking into the other case, you know the two bodies," I told him. We had updated Nico of the news of yesterday earlier. There was no response so I figured he was listening to something.

"They're talking about the bodies as well," Nico said after a minute, he seemed surprised with the information as well.

"Hear any named?" I asked. There was a rustling sound as Nico was undoubtedly shifting his position,

"Um...no...wait...Robert? I think," he said eventually. I jotted it down and waited for more information.

"They're surprised," Nico said finally.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"They weren't expecting these guys to be killed, so it wasn't a planned thing. It also seems like they were somewhat important because they have this whole meeting for them," he responded.

"What else?" I urged. I was met with silence for two minutes before I got a reply.

"There was something weird about them. Apparently news of the tattoo got out, they are wondering why the two guys had them. Also something about betraying something? I can't make it out," he answered.

More silence until finally Nico spoke again,

"There is confusion regarding the two guys, they are accused of betraying the gang, but its all unsure and hazy, they are arguing a bit over it. It's getting harder to hear clear sentences."

"Get out of there, you've heard enough," I said. More shuffling as Nico probably moved away.

"So what did that tell us?" he asked not whispering anymore.

"That the tattoos mean something and aren't normal," I said.

"And that those two were part of the gang," Nico confirmed. I rushed to write it all down.

"Right and we also know there is controversy regarding them, and possible betrayal," I added.

"It seems like the tattoos...are a real turn on man, you should see her, smoking hot," Nico suddenly said a bit louder.

"I mean she is totally worth going for, super se-" he cut himself off and then continued in a normal voice,

"Not a word." I, on the other hand was cracking up.

"Oh god, that was the excuse you came up with," I managed in between laughs.

"Shut up! I didn't have a choice, would you rather I get caught," he asked.

"SO Nico, who is this smoking hot babe," I said just as the door opened to reveal Annabeth.

"What?" she asked. Now it was Nico's turn to laugh,

"Look who got caught now," he said laughing hysterically.

"Still you, have fun making out with the hot chick with tattoos," I shot back, trying to keep the blush of my face.

"What is going on?" Annabeth asked.

"And I'll leave you to explain to Annabeth why you were talking about a smoking hot babe," Nico laughed and hung up. I glared at the phone.

Annabeth had her hands on her hips and was looking at me with a raised eyebrow, "Smoking hot babe?" he asked.

I smiled weakly, "You of course," I said as I made an attempt to kiss her, she turned her head so I kissed her cheek instead.

"What in the world is going on?" she asked instead.

Then I explained to her the whole ordeal of Nico spying and what we learned. And then of Nico almost getting caught to us laughing.

The only thing she had to say at the end of it was a very exasperated, "boys."

"Anyway, that is still valuable information, we were able to identify one of the men, a Robert Rescolo. He was closely linked to the gang and has a record for break-ins, and some small robberies," Annabeth continued.

"So we've made some progress. Do you think they have something to do with what's happening tomorrow?" I wondered aloud.

"Maybe, but I doubt it. This was not planned and what's happening tomorrow is. But it could affect what's planned, they may move it," Annabeth said thoughtfully.

"Well Nico will tell us if anything new arises, but if not we need to stake out the area," I pointed out.

"If it comes to that, I think Tyson might be able to help us out with that," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, I agree. In fact we should ask him if he knows anything," I suggested.

"Why not?" Annabeth agreed. Tyson had given us an address in case we had to get him, but first we'd just drive around the area and see if we could catch him somewhere there. I grabbed Annabeth's hand as we made our way to my car. All jokes aside, she was still the prettiest girl out there and definitely a smoking hot babe. Sorry Nico, I thought, but I won that round.

**A/N: Well? How was it? More action type stuff later...**

**Please Review! **

**See ya! :)**


	13. Stuck

**A/N: Hey guys! I'm back...and late...I know! Soooooooooo sorry! But read the notice!**

**NOTICE: Alright, so my updates may be a little slower than before, just cause I have so much going on, with colleges and school. This does NOT mean I'm stopping or going on hiatus. I WILL continue writing. The only difference is that my updates may be a little more spaced out than usual. It's just cause of all the things I have going on. Thanks for understanding.**

**Now this was ridicluosly late, so sorry, but I'll try not to ever go this long without updating again...**

**Here ya go:**

Annabeth's POV

We drove around through the neighborhood, which was lined with old shabby houses and huge building squished together with boarded up windows and suspicious store fronts. There were couple people out on the streets as we drove past, hanging out in alleyways or outside stores. It was a tad intimidating actually. As we went deeper into the neighborhood, I saw more inhabitants. Women walking from the laundry mats and men going into to stores, secret handshakes being made, kids seemingly running 'free,' over all it gave a certain feel to the place. Some people looked at us as we drove by, we weren't in a cop car, but Percy's black SUV was out of place. Others just ignored us. We slowed down at the alleyways hoping to catch a glimpse of Tyson, but no such luck.

We decided to stop but the address he had given us. We pulled up to a run down type building that housed many people despite it's broken windows and cracked walls. I was about to open the door to find Tyson when Percy put an arm on me and shook his head.

"I'll be fine," I insisted.

"I know, but please," he pleaded back.

"How else are we going to get Tyson?" I asked.

"I dont know, but please dont get out," Percy's eyes bore into mine. I could see the worry etched in them. I sighed,

"Fine," I gave in. Percy nodded and opened his door, but it turned out he didn't need to leave as Tyson was seen leaving the building. He noticed our car. In fact we had quite a lot of stares at this point, I was lucky the windows were tinted. Percy noticed and slightly motioned to Tyson. Then he kept on driving. We drove further down the road and turned into an isolated alleyway. Five minutes later Tyson caught up. I motioned for him to get in.

"Why are you guys here!" he hissed as he got in.

"Relax, no one saw us," Percy pointed out.

"And we need help," I explained further.

"What's up?" Tyson asked, looking interested. I figured the kid never really got appreciated or respected before, but here he felt as though he meant something.

Percy was explaining the problem,

"Basically, something is being planned on Friday, by the Black Spades, and we have no idea what it is," he summed up as he drove out of the neighborhood.

"Have you heard anything around?" I asked.

"Well," the boy started, "I did hear that there is something happening, around some bookstore, I think," he said thoughtfully. I nodded for him to go on,

"Well I was warned to stay away because apparently the Spades are doing something, I heard a rumor about that the East Bronx might be there too...but that's iffy," he finished.

"Do you know anything else?" I urged, this was good information.

Tyson shook his head, "Sorry, I got nothing else."

"Well thanks for this, it helps," Percy smiled.

"Where are we going?" Tyson asked.

"To McDonalds, I'm hungry," Percy replied.

I rolled my eyes, "Percy, you're always hungry!"

"In my defense I haven't eaten in like seven hours," he cried.

"You are hopeless!" I shook my head.

Percy stuck his tongue out at me. Tyson laughed,

"You guys are something."

"Right," I said blushing a little. "Have you heard about the two men who were shot?" I asked instead.

Tyson frowned, "Oh yeah, they were Spades members but rumor has it they were separated or traitors or something."

I nodded, nothing new, nothing we didn't already know. We were hitting roadblocks. The only thing we knew is that there might be another gang involved, but no solid proof.

We pulled into McDonalds and got some food. We sat down to eat. It was the second time we were taking Tyson to eat, but I figured he didn't real get to eat too much at home. Plus it was a good place to discuss things.

"Percy! Breathe!" I said as Percy practically inhaled food.

"What! i'm hungry," he protested.

I shook my head at him.

"I think you are addicted to food," I said thoughtfully.

"So, food is good for you," he argued. I sighed, there was no winning with him. I turned back to my own burger.

"Hey! That reminds me of something," Tyson said suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"There is this addict that I know, he's old, crazy and high. Anyway he was saying something about this new gang that is recruiting or something. I don't really believe it cause if there was the news would go around faster and no one else has said anything. Plus this guys always high so his word cannot be taken too seriously. But I thought I would tell you," Tyson shrugged and continued to eat.

Another gang, that could be a possibility. It might have something to do with the two men or what was happening tomorrow.

Annabeth sighed. Still no solid leads with what was going on tomorrow. We were stuck.

**A/N: Yeah...not that great...sorry! **

**Please review!**

**See ya :)**


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